UPDATE: On April 20, 2023, 8:30 a.m., the City’s Planning Commission will discuss the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Boyle Heights Community Plan (DEIR). Public comments may be provided in-person or virtually during the meeting. Written public comments over two pages in length are due at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, April 10, 2023. More details regarding participation and comment submission can be found in the How You Can Help section.

In July 2022, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Boyle Heights Community Plan was published and circulated for public comment. A Virtual Information Session and Public Hearing for the Community Plan Update was held by City Planning on October 27, 2022 and the recording can be viewed here. On December 1, 2022 10:00 a.m., City Planning staff provided an informational presentation on the Boyle Heights Community Plan Update to the Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Boyle Heights Community Plan is one of the City of Los Angeles’s 35 Community Plans and sets goals and policies for the future of Boyle Heights. The Boyle Heights Community Plan Update was initiated in 2006 and has been shaped by City Planning with local community input.

Boyle Heights, a comparatively dense, urban neighborhood, is one of the City’s most transit-accessible communities. The update to the Plan encourages specific growth around transit hubs and commercial corridors while conserving residential areas’ existing varied densities and historic character.

At a high level, the Boyle Heights Community Plan aims to:

• Address the housing needs of current and future residents
• Maintain the rich cultural history and neighborhood identity of Boyle Heights
• Promote local jobs and small businesses
• Address community health and environmental justice
• Address climate change

Community Plan Updates offer an opportunity to incentivize and plan for proactive protections for historic resources.

Boyle Heights is among the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles and its historic properties are particularly at risk given the low percentage of designated historic resources and increased levels of new and proposed development.

Additionally, 89% of all units in Boyle Heights were built before 1978, with about 71% of all multi-unit properties being built before 1978. The City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) applies to multi-unit properties built before 1978 which makes a high percentage of the housing stock in Boyle Heights subject to the RSO.

The Conservancy has engaged in the Boyle Heights Community Plan Update for over a decade and recently submitted comments on the DEIR. While we appreciate new zoning regulations for the Brooklyn Avenue Neighborhood Corridor (HCM #590), legacy corner stores in residential neighborhoods, and some SurveyLA residential historic districts, we urge the City to analyze and plan for historic resources throughout the community plan area. Among some of our concerns are the need to balance new growth and development with the retention of existing resources through expanded strategies and tools, including anti-displacement strategies.

We appreciate the creation of the Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO) Historic Preservation Subarea aimed at protecting some historic districts not currently designated by treating the demolition of eligible historic resources in certain areas as a discretionary action. The Conservancy provided additional recommendations, including adding demolition and permit delays for projects where an existing structure is 45 years of age or older, and ensuring historic multi-family residential, commercial, and industrial neighborhoods benefit from similar regulations.

To learn more about the Boyle Heights Community Plan, go to https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/community-plan-update/boyle-h…

There are 35 Community Plans within the city and each is a guiding document for land use and development over the next 20 years. Tailored to the area being served, each Community Plan provides goals, policies, and programs for implementation. The Boyle Heights Community Plan was last updated in 1998. Since that time, there have been shifting housing needs and new infrastructure investment. The current Boyle Heights Community Plan update began in 2012. City Planning has conducted outreach and engagement for the past several years with residents, stakeholders, and community organizations. L.A. Conservancy has met with City Planning and has organized meetings with City staff and community members to ensure historic preservation policies were an important part of the plan.

The Boyle Heights Community Plan will be the second community plan to incorporate the City’s new zoning code known as re:code LA. The City of Los Angeles first adopted its zoning code in 1946. For over 80 years the City has used this code, tweaking it here and there with ordinances, but overall it remains the zoning code as laid in the 1940s. For over a decade, the City has worked to create a new zoning code for the 21st century. Re:code LA introduces new and important contextual based tools we hope will encourage compatible new development in existing older and historic neighborhoods.

On October 11, 2022 the Conservancy submitted comments on the Boyle Heights Community Plan. While we appreciate the plan goals that focus on preservation, retention, and reuse of existing historic resources, we do not think the Plan goes far enough in offering strategies that actually help in these areas. The Conservancy has offered the following key amendments to the plan:

• Expand Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO) district, to broaden its effectiveness as a strong model for conserving historic residential neighborhoods. To provide consistency in the CPU, CPIO Historic Preservation Subarea B should be further expanded to include all local, state, and National Register eligible and identified historic districts, planning districts, and bungalow court properties in the CPA. This includes, but, is not limited to such historic resources as Stone Street Residential Historic District, Estrada Courts, and 1415-2417 Malabar Street Bungalow Court, all of which remain vulnerable to redevelopment and degradation. Add demolition and permit delays for projects where an existing structure is 45 years of age or older be considered.
• Support two-story height limit and Character Commercial I Frontage in the Brooklyn Avenue Neighborhood Corridor. City should also consider additional tools to encourage preservation and integration of existing historic resources in any proposed new infill development strategy.
• Support retention of existing longtime small businesses through new zoning regulations and use districts. Use of CX2 and CX5 to feature a maximum size limit to ground story commercial to support existing and future small and longtime neighborhood-serving business. To enhance this strategy, we recommend Character Commercial I Frontage be applied to commercial properties in the RX2 and CX5 Use Districts.  Apply CX5 Use District to a portion of First Street between Mathews and Fickett Streets where there is a concentration of small legacy businesses.